The demand for hydrogen in industry and in consumer areas continues to grow. With the developments of hydrogen-powered fuel cells and the like, the demand for hydrogen may soon be increasing at even faster rates. Commercial hydrogen production technology generally requires the use of temperatures in a range of from 900° to 1000° C. and the use of hydrocarbons as prime feedstock. Hydrocarbon feed stocks can quickly escalate in price and/or be subject to supply interruptions. When feed stock and production costs are evaluated, hydrogen is often seen as too costly of a fuel, thereby limiting development of a hydrogen economy. Not only would it be desirable to develop hydrogen production methods which employ lower temperatures to reduce the cost of production, it would also be advantageous to obtain hydrogen from materials other than hydrocarbon feed stocks.
Various thermochemical, photo electrochemical, thermal water splitting and gasification technologies for hydrogen production are under development, although the economic feasibility of such techniques remains to be determined. In 2003, the U.S. Departments of Energy and Agriculture funded a number of research and development projects and demonstration projects directed to hydrogen and chemical production from biomass. The current methods under development for producing hydrogen include splitting of water into component parts of hydrogen and oxygen, converting hydrocarbons into hydrogen and carbon dioxide by reaction over a catalyst, electrolysis, steam electrolysis, thermochemical techniques, photochemical techniques, and gasification using heat to decompose biomass or coal into a gas stream for hydrogen production.
However, a need still exists for improved processes for hydrogen production.